Why I Start Packing 4 Months in Advance – For My Sanity

Getting ready to move? Feeling a little overwhelmed of everything that you have to do? Oh hey friend! Me too. ME TOO. You may find my methods to be too extreme for you, and that’s okay. But it keeps my sanity! Every since I was a little girl I would start packing for trips days in advance. I think I started packing for college the day after I graduated High School. It is who I am and I refuse to apologize because it keeps me sane. It is one area of my life that always has to be organized! (Unpacking is a completely different story… but let’s just forget about the unpacking).

Zach and I are moving to Idaho in May and expecting a little girl in March. Whew! It’s going to be a busy springtime for us. This definitely motivated me to start packing NOW because I am not going to be up to packing on zero sleep and feeding a newborn constantly. However, I still know that I would be starting soon even if we weren’t expecting a baby. You don’t necessarily need to become a “packing freak” like me, but I hope you find this list of tips and tricks helpful for you as you prepare to move.

Lists, Lists, Lists

Start with lists! All of the lists! (I am also a list freak. My husband gets me cute list stationary and I am as happy as can be). Write down categories, to do lists, and figure out your priorities through your lists. What can be packed now? What can be packed last minute? Is there anything that you can get rid of? Write it down, write it down. Then make a plan of how to execute!

My main lists include:

To Do list before Idaho – this list contains every single thing that we have to accomplish before the move. Including taxes, financial prep, insurance prep, to the simplest task of starting to collect plastic bags from the grocery store and getting our horse to the Vet. It’s awesome! I stay on track and know if I am accomplishing anything.

What I can pack now – this list contains everything that can be boxed up and moved into storage right now without us needing anything. So far, I have packed up winter clothes, skinny clothes, holiday decorations, and my “off season” decorations. Believe me – there is so much that you can get out of your way that you don’t even realize!

You Dew You – this list contains everything that I need to do to make sure that I can keep the blog up and going during this crazy time in my life.

Packing List: Cortez – Yes, I still have so much stuff at my parents! (No judging) So this list contains everything that I want to get from Cortez to move with us to Idaho.

These are just some examples of the lists that I am using to prepare us from the move! My husband calls these lists my brain – and indeed they are my friends.

Declutter!!

Get rid of the things that you don’t need anymore! It is so much easier to throw the old crap away than it is to carry it with you across the country, state, or even city! I took a huge bag to GoodWill a few days ago and let me tell you – that felt good. I recommend organizing your house before you even start to think about packing. If you are interested in what you can do to your whole house before you start, you can check out my post on 5 Quick Ways To Get Yourself Organized.

Disclaimer: This is an affiliated post for Amazon. I stand by every product that I recommend, but am not liable for any damage.

Tools for the job

This is pretty short because it is very self explanatory – but worth mentioning! Laugh all you want but there are tools that are so helpful that prepare me to move. Obviously there are the boxes, tape, markers, and the stuff that you are actually moving haha. But I am talking about organizing tools. I love the cloth bins that I can organize my collectibles in. I also love the plastic bins that will last you forever and small disgusting animals can’t get through them. I am an avid Amazon shopper and they have the greatest organizing tools for moving! (Plus you can use the cardboard boxes that they come in!) It’s a win-win!

Label, Label, Label

I label practically everything! Once you have decided what can be packed now, the chances of completely forgetting what are in those boxes are pretty high. I have already forgotten what I packed last week… but because I label EVERYTHING I can just look on the box and know what is in the box. Overdoing it? You may think so, and my husband laughs at me, but it drives me crazy when I lose things! I love cute little labels that I can print out and put on each box to be able to write down every little thing that the box holds. Buuuuut that’s not always the case. Good ol’ masking tape works great. I don’t write directly on the boxes because I may want to use the boxes for something else later. (I told you I was a packing freak – this is just barely getting into it! Haha).

Be specific. Don’t just put “bathroom”. Well that could be anything! I put the room it came from/will go to and then list the contents of the box. But find a happy medium. I had a box full of lingerie that I used to fit in and I don’t want people to know that’s what it is! So I just put “stuff ;)” like a little inside joke to myself. It will be fun, I will laugh about it later. You can find really cute/useful labels on Amazon.

Storage room for boxes

If you don’t have the storage space for all of these boxes, you may not want to start so soon. Zach and I are living around boxes, but I am about to pop a baby out and living amongst boxes sounds so much better to me than to have to pack right after having a baby. If it won’t bother you, go for it! But if that will drive you bonkers I would wait. There are things that you can do now to prepare for then. Make those lists and get organized. You can even organize your stuff into categories in different rooms. I know what kinds of stuff I want in the same boxes and so I will organize them together in the same drawer until I can throw them into a box.

“This is way too much work!”. I have heard this before haha and I admit that it is a ton of work. Find whatever works for you! This is definitely what works for me. I don’t have the luxury of having the next 3-4 months to focus on packing. I have maybe a month of that to really think about it. That’s not enough time for me! Even if I wasn’t having a baby, I am all about spreading out the work over time so that I can have time for date nights with my husband, work, hobbies, and keeping my sanity! Feeling accomplished helps me feel that I am the best me that I can be! You dew whatever works for you, my friends.